04/09/2014

Why 'don't send naked photos to someone if you don't want them online' wins ridiculous argument of the week

'Don't send naked photos to someone if you don't want them online' is an argument I have seen a lot this week after naked photos of some high profile, female celebrities were posted online and shared by millions.

In my opinion, that argument is right up there with the ridiculous 'she was wearing a short skirt so she was asking for it' statement. That is never, ever an ok argument.

For a woman to share intimate photos with a man is a big deal, and there has to be a lot of trust there. To those in a relationship, I imagine swapping the odd saucy picture now and again is commonplace. But what happens when the relationship ends or goes sour?

Of course, taking such photos and sharing them with someone else opens you up to an element of risk and with 'revenge porn' on the rise, sending intimate photos to someone is more dangerous than ever.

The internet, social media and technology are constantly evolving and developing and 'revenge porn' is changing right with it, becoming an increasingly big problem.

Some websites have even been created with the sole purpose of uploading 'revenge porn' pictures, often with the pictures linked to the victims' social media accounts and sometimes even including their full name and personal details such as their address.

The first rule of sending a saucy, naked photo is to cut your face out - everyone knows (or at least should know) that.

But this apparently foolproof rule doesn't save you from the shame of 'revenge porn'. Most of these sites include intimate, personal photos of women with fully clothed, full-length images of the victims right next to them. Distinguishing features such as the same bedroom decor, the same mirror, the same hair colour or the same freckle are all pointed out - these people are hell-bent on making sure their victim is totally humiliated and known to all.

Of course, there is nothing to stop these people matching 'headless' naked bodies with fully-clothed pictures, claiming that it is the same person - these horrible people will try anything to shame someone.

Women in the UK have reportedly been forced to shell out hundreds of pounds to remove their images from sites such as these, some of which are porn sites based in the United States.

The consequences of falling victim to an incident like this can be life-changing. Women have committed suicide after their nude photos were shared on social networking sites; careers can be ruined forever; and relationships pushed to breaking point.

Next month, a proposed change to the law could stop these personal photos being shared online and used as 'revenge porn' once the relationship ends. Unfortunately, technology is advancing so quickly that there are worries this will be too difficult to police and enforce.

To say that someone shouldn't send naked photos to someone if they don't want them online is stupid. The only reason most women would send such photos to a guy is if they trusted them and, in most cases, loved them.

Opening up to someone and having that intimate relationship is something that should remain between two people, whether the relationship ends in a bad way or not. No woman deserves to be treated like that, especially not by someone she once trusted enough to have such photos of her in the first place.